William Shakespeare had a way not only with words but also with life's truisms, many of which still hold firm a good 300 years after his death.

William Shakespeare had a way not only with words but also with life's truisms, many of which still hold firm a good 300 years after his death.

And one of the more famous lines, albeit with a change of gender, from the great Bard's quill: "Methinks the gentleman (lady) doth protest too much," came to mind when England rugby manager Clive Woodward complained bitterly that he wasn't getting the `agreed access' to `his' players in the build-up to next year's World Cup.

It is fair to say that the majority of the English rugby fraternity, especially those in the Premiership and quite a few at Twickenham, merely shrugged their shoulders and muttered: "There goes Clive again, stamping his foot and spitting out his dummy whenever he can't get his own way."

Because the simple fact is no hard and fast agreement has been reached on the largely unrealistic requirements which Woodward has come up with. Nobody in the professional game takes them seriously and at the end of the day I have no doubt that common sense will prevail and a satisfactory outcome will be agreed.

All well and good until Sport England stepped in this week, threatening to withhold &#xA3;3 million of lottery money if Woodward doesn't get the so-called agreed access to the players.

Sport England has already dished out &#xA3;4 million of an agreed &#xA3;8 million to the RFU for its elite preparation but David Moffett, the chief executive of the quango, is threatening to withhold the next tranche of &#xA3;3 million due this month.

He said: "There must be a clear and unequivocal agreement between the RFU and the affiliated clubs on the release of players for international duty at all levels.

"I believe that the England rugby team could win the World Cup, if not next year then in 2007. But they need everything going for them and that is not the case," added Moffett who emphasised that the "threat was not made lightly."

Ironically, Woodward said on May 30 he was "desperately disappointed" that the directors of rugby at the 12 Zurich Premiership clubs were instructed not to attend a meeting at Twickenham the previous day when it was hoped a final agreement would be reached.

I say ironically because the reason the directors of rugby were instructed not to attend was because instead of being a closed meeting with Woodward as had been agreed, the England coach had opened it up to players and, the clubs believed, even their agents.

I am not alone in thinking that this is all a storm in a tea cup of Woodward's own making and something that can and will be sorted out with a bit of common sense - but not by foot-stamping and spitting out the dummy.

And the ultimate irony would surely be if the RFU lose out on &#xA3;3 million because Woodward did exactly that!